Door-controlling means.



HQ G. VOIGHT.

DOOR CONTROLLING MEANS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 25, 1912.

1,028,833,; v V Patented June 4,1912

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I .1 ,028,83 3; Patented June 4, 1912.

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COLUMBIA PLANDURAPH co., WASHINGTON. Bic.

' HENRY G. VOIGI-IT, OF NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT.

DOOR-CONTROLLING MEANS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 4, 1912.

Application filed. January 25, 1912. Serial No. 673,287.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY Gr. VOIGHT, a citizen of the United States,residing at New Britain, Hart-ford county, State of Connecticut, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Door-Controlling Means,of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to closing and looking devices for elevator doorsand the like and has forits object to provide means which, whilesecurely holding the door in a closed position, can, with the leastexpenditure of energy on the part of the operator, be manipulated tounlock and move the door out ofthis position, and which, from the openposition, will automatically close and lock the door, the closing actionbeing checked and controlled so that as a whole, it will be as rapid aspossible and yet allow the door to close without any undue violence ornoise.

A preferable embodiment of the invention is illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a view in side elevation showing my invention applied to anelevator door. Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view through the door casingshowing in top plan view the opening and closing mechanism. Fig. 3 is avertical sectional view through the door closer cylinder. Fig. 4 is aview in elevation of the operating handle in its locked position. Fig. 5is a similar view showing, the operating handle in unlocked door-openingposition. Fig. 6 is an end elevation, partly in section, of theoperating handle shown in Figs. 4: and 5. Fig. 7 is a top plan view ofthe locking disk. Figs. 8 and 9 are respectively side elevation and planviews of the door lock casing.

Referring to the drawing by numerals, 1 indicates a door casing formingpart of an elevator well and 2 a sliding door of wellknown type.

3 represents a bracket secured to the elevator casing and 4 a doorclosing and checking cylinder pivotally mounted upon said bracket at thelower end thereof.

5 and 6 represent levers forming a toggle, the end of lever 6 beingpivotally secured to the upper end of bracket 3 and having closelyadjacent said end a transverse arm 7 to which is pivotally secured theupper end of a piston rod 8 extending within the door closing andchecking cylinder 4:, the

detailed construction of which will be hereinafter referred to.

' At the forward'edge of the door 2 is secured a plate 9 provided with apost 10 on which is pivotally mounted the lower end of an operatinglever 11 which is held thereon by means of a nut 12. Intermediate theends of this lever and to the under face thereof is secured a circularcasing 13 having its rear face open and provided with a transverse slot14 in its front face, the lever arm 11 at such point being provided witha corresponding slot 11*. Extending inwardly from the side wall of thiscasing is a lug 15. This casing incloses a plate 16 secured to theforward edge of the door and preferably provided with a boss 17 fromwhich a stud 18 extends outwardly through the slotted opening in theouter face of the casing 13 and through the lever 11, a nut 20 beingscrewed on its end and holding the casing and lever on said post. Thecasing itself is securely attached to and moves with the lever 11 bymeans of the screws shown.

The forward end of the lever member 5 is pivotally mounted upon the post18 and the interior of the casing 13 and. has its edge .1

recessed at 22 to engage with said lug. This is accomplished in thefollowing manner: A bowed spring 23 is secured to the edge of this diskopposite its recess22 and is provided with inwardly turned ends adaptedfor sliding engagement with the sides of the casing 13. This spring,being secured to a part fixed to the stud 18, bears against the side ofthe casing 13 which, by reason of the slotted engagement of the latterwith the stud, is movable relative thereto. The spring 23 normally movesthe caslng and 1ts attached lever forwardly to bring the lug 15 into therecess 23 in the edge of the disk. From this it is obvious that thetoggle levers 5 and 6 cannot be moved from the position shown in fulllines in Fig. 1 until the operating lever 11, attachedto the caslng, 1Sgivena slight pull to the right, moving the casing to the right andretracting the lug 15 p the door and its detailed construction andconnections will now be described. As has been stated, this cylinder 4is pivotally mounted at its lower end upon the bracket 3, and the end ofthe toggle lever 6 is pivotally mounted at the upper end of said bracketand is provided closely adjacent said end with a transverse arm 7pivotally connected to the piston rod 8 of the closer cylinder. Thiscloser cylinder comprises the casing 4 having mounted therein the pistonrod 8 and a piston head 24. A powerful coil spring 25 bears against thetop of the cylinder and against the piston head and normally forces itdownwardly thereby pulling down the lever 6 and closing the door. Inorder to regulate the force and speed with which the door is closedthereby after being. opened, I provide a compressed air checking deviceby forming in the bottom of the cylinder an air vent 26 forming a bleedvalve whose aperture is governed by a screw valve 27. By adjusting thisscrew, the rate at which the air can be forced from the cylinder by thespring pressed piston head 24 can be governed at will and a too rapidclosing or slamming of the door prevented.

In operation my invention acts as follows: Assuming that the door isclosed by the action of the closer cylinder 3 and that the toggle levers5 and 6 are locked by reason of the engagement of the lug 15 with therecess 22 of the locking disk 21, the operator gives the operating lever11 a slight pull, drawing the casing 18 and its lug 15 from engagementwith the recess 22 as the lever and its casing have a limited freemovement relative to the toggle lever 5. A continued pull on the leverwill break the toggle joint and cause the door to slide open, the end ofthe lever 5, as this occurs, turning to the left or counter-clockwiseand with it the disk 21 and its recess. It will be noted that I haveprovided a powerful leverage for drawing the piston 24 upwardly againstthe tension of the spring 25, this leverage being secured by having thearm 7 closely adjacent the fulcrum end of the lever. The operator,therefore, is able to open the door against the pressure of this springwith a comparatively slight pull.

WVhen it is desired to have the door closed, the operator releases hishold upon the lever 11 whereupon the closer spring 25 will force thepiston rod 24 downwardly and through the toggle lever connections, slidethe door disk 21 turning with the angular movement of the end of lever 5and presenting its recess 22 to be engaged by the lug 15 on the interiorof the casing 13, thereby locking the toggle levers and holding the doorin closed position until the lever 11 is again moved by the operator.

I have described and shown this door controlling mechanism as applied toan elevator door provided with a closer cylinder, but it is, of course,obvious that the device is not limited to this type of door alone by anymeans, but can be applied to any door of the sliding type.

What I claim and desire to secure by Let ters Patent is:

1. In a device of the character described, the combination of a doorcasing, a sliding door, a lever pivoted to said door and connected tosaid casing and swinging with the opening and closing movement of saiddoor, a member carried by and oscillating with the movement of saidlever, a member pivotally mounted on said door and carrying a partadapted to engage said oscillating member as said door closes and locksaid door against opening movement, and means whereby said member may bewithdrawn from locking engagement and whereby said door may be opened.

2. In a device of the character described, a sliding door, a movable armcarried thereby, a connection for said arm independent of the door, anoperating handle carried by the door, a locking device operable by saidhandle and co-acting with said arm to hold said arin against movementand to thereby lock said door.

3. In a device of the character described, a sliding door, a movablelever carried thereby, a connection for said lever independent of thedoor, an operating handle carried by the door, a locking device operableby said handle and coacting with said lever to hold lock said door, andclosing mechanism for said door operatively connected with said lever tomove the latter in a direction to move said door into closed position.

4. In a device of the character described, a sliding door, a movablelever carried there by, a connection for said lever independent of thedoor, an operating handle carried by the door, a locking device operableby said handle and coacting with said lever to hold said lever againstmovement and to thereby lock said door, closing mechanism for said dooroperatively connected with said lever to move the latter in a directionto move said door into closed position, means for regulating saidclosing mechanism. I

5. In a device of the character described, a sliding door, an armpivotally mounted near one end on said door, a support or connectionindependent of the door for the other end of said arm, said arm beingmovable relatively to said door and to said independent support, anoperating handle carried by the door for moving the latter, said handlehaving a limited independent movement relatively to said door, and alocking mechanism for said arm to prevent movement thereof and tothereby lock the door, said locking mechanism being controllable by thesaid independent movement of said handle.

6. In a device of the character described, a sliding door, a togglelever connected at one end to said door, a cooperating toggle lever forthe other end of the first mentioned toggle lever, a support for saidsecond toggle lever, means for moving said toggle levers normally in adirection to transmit a closing movement to the door, and a lookingmechanism carried by the door and coacting with said first mentionedtoggle lever to hold the latter against movement when the door isclosed, and a door-operating handle carried by the door and capable oflimited independent movement relatively thereto, and means of connectionbetween said handle and said locking means whereby the latter may bereleased preparatory to opening the door.

7. In a device of the character described, a sliding door, a pair oftoggle levers, one of said levers being pivotally connected to said doorand an independent support for the other of said levers, adoor-operating handle carried by the door and coacting with one of saidtoggle levers to hold the same against movement and to thereby lock thedoor, said handle having a limited amount of independent movementrelatively to said door to permit the release of said locked lever topermit said door to be opened.

8. In a device of the character described, a door, a casing, a pair oftoggle levers, one lever being pivotally connected to the door and theother lever being pivotally connected to said casing, a door controllinghandle carried by the door adjacent to the pivotal connection of theaforesaid lever and a locking means operable by said handle for holdingsaid last mentioned toggle lever against movement to thereby lock thedoor in its closed position.

9. In a device of the character described,

a sliding door, a lever connected at one end thereto and having aswinging movement relatively thereto, an independent support for theother end of said lever, a door-operating handle also carried by thedoor movable therewith and relatively thereto and to said lever, alocking means for preventing the relative movement of the lever to thedoor, said locking means being controllable by the relative movement ofthe handle to the door and lever.

10. In a device of the character described, a sliding door, a levercarried thereby and movable relatively thereto, a door-operating handlealso carried by the door movable therewith and relatively thereto and tosaid lever, a locking means for preventing the relative movement of thelever to the door, said locking means being controllable by the relativemovement of the handle to the door and lever, and means to cause saidlocking means to engage and hold said lever against movement relative tothe door when said door is closed, said locking means including a devicecarried by the lever and means co-acting with said device and carried bythe handle, one of said parts having a notch and theother of said partshaving a lug arranged to enter said notch to prevent said lever frommoving.

11. In a device of the character described, a sliding door, a levercarried thereby and movable relative thereto, a door-operating handlealso carried by the door. movable therewith and relatively thereto andto said lever, a locking means for preventing the relative movement ofthe lever to the door, said locking means being controllable by therelative movement of the handle to the door and lever, and means tonormally cause said locking means to engage and hold said lever againstmovement relatively to the door when said door is closed, said lockingmeans including a disk carried by the lever, and means co-acting withsaid disk and carried by the handle, one of said parts having a notchand the other of said parts having a lug arranged to enter said notch toprevent said lever from moving.

HENRY G. VOIGHT. Witnesses:

GWENDOLINE A. JAoKsoN, M. S. WIARD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, I). C.

